Hiss denied the charges and offered to testify before the committee. In his testimony, he vehemently denied that he a Communist and stated that he had never even met Whitaker Chambers. Chambers responded by supplying detailed recollections of Hiss and his family with an uncanny accuracy. Hiss corroborated many of these recollections and explained that he may have known Chambers years earlier under a different name and in a different appearance. The highly regarded Hiss was now being viewed with some suspicion.
Chambers made an appearance on the American political television show "Meet the Press." When asked about Hiss, Chambers repeated the statement he had made before the committee. Hiss immediately sued Chambers for slander. Chambers continued to provide evidence against Hiss, by providing photographs of documents that appeared to be re-typed copies of State Department documents which also included some notes in Hiss' handwriting.
Chambers further produced undeveloped film which he had hidden in a hollowed out pumpkin on his Maryland farm. The film contained photographs of more classified State Department documents which were referred to thereafter as the "Pumpkin Papers." The Justice Department was also working with information provided by a Soviet defector named Igor Gouzenko in 1945. Gouzenko had claimed that an assistant to the Secretary of State was a Soviet spy. The FBI had narrowed its search down to Hiss but did not have enough evidence to confront Hiss. The FBI also was able to find the typewriter that was alleged to have been used to retype the classified documents.
Hiss was indicted for committing perjury. The trial ended in a hung jury but the second trial in on January 21, 1950 with Hiss being found guilty of perjury (note, Hiss was never found guilty of espionage).
